Valuable materials include those for which a great deal of time and precision has been expended for their production. Manufacturers and providers of such materials have always been desirous a methods of protecting those materials and ensuring that they are not vulnerable to copying, counterfeiting, or unauthorized use. There is therefore a continuing need for devices and methods for securing such valuable materials. This need has expanded to include the need for producers to ensure that proprietary products manufactured are not tampered with or opened, and therefore subjected to counterfeiting or unauthorized use, after the manufacturing and sale process is complete. Manufacturers have sometimes sought to satisfy at least some of these needs by resorting to particular designs of tamper evident labels, which typically utilize a detectable pattern or frangible liner that is secured with an adhesive to thereby prevent tampering and counterfeiting. More robust forms of tamper resistance are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,098,792, which uses a circuit based sensor sensitive to reveal tampering and US 2001/0035261, which combines a fluorescent taggant with an optically variable image. These devices utilize a visual inspection to reveal tampering. This inspection is typically performed by the end user and authorization or validation by the producer is not typically available with these methods and devices. Presently, there are no devices or methods available that utilize a mated set of components with multiple mechanical and visual features that ensure that authorized products sold have not been tampered with or subject to counterfeiting, and which also allow the producer to authorize or validate the products at the point of use.
There is therefore a need for an automated way to detect if a manufactured product containing valuable materials has been opened, tampered with or is otherwise counterfeit, which can occur during transportation or storage of the manufactured device. There is also a need for manufacturers to have a method of validating or authorizing the use of materials that have an origin at a facility under their control.